The first British Boxing Board of Control circular for 2024 was recently published and, as is the norm, several British, English and European title fights were announced. Some were already known to the public and others were not. However, there were more than a few that involved fighters from Frank Warren’s stable at Queensberry Promotions.
Boxing News caught up with Warren to find out which of these will happen and which won’t.
BN: Gavin Gwynne has vacated his British lightweight title. Does that mean Sam Noakes’ Commonwealth title defense against Lewis Sylvester will also be for the vacant British title on the Hamzah Sheeraz-Liam Williams undercard on February 10?
FW: I hope so.
BN: Will Gwynne defend her European title against Yvan Mendy?
FW: It’s possible. I’ll have to talk to the team but that’s possible.
BN: There was no mention of Liam Davies and his upcoming European bantamweight title defense in the Circular. He had heard that Dennis McCann had a fight lined up against an undefeated fighter. Is there any chance it could be Davies versus McCann?
FW: We’re working on something. Dennis steps forward a little.
BN: Has an agreement been reached for Nathaniel Collins to defend his British featherweight title against Hopey Price?
FW: Yes, I understand that it has already been done. There is no date but we are working on it.
BN: Sean McGoldrick has vacated his British bantamweight title. Will Chris Bourke fight Ashley Lane for the vacant title at their March 29 show at York Hall?
FW: That’s right.
BN: The Board circular has proposed Solomon Dacres to defend his English heavyweight title against Moses Itauma. Will that fight happen?
FW: I don’t know yet. They have become a couple and there has been no consultation. Anyway, Sol Dacres has a fight scheduled for March. Moisés fights next month. So, we’ll see.
BN: Is Ethan James vs. Owen Cooper for the vacant English welterweight title happening?
FW: They said it’s done, right?
BN: The circular said that the commissioners decided to approve your application for that competition.
FW: Excellent. That’s good.
BN: Other than that, are you looking forward to this year?
FW: Yes, we have some lively domestic fights scheduled. We are doing another Magnificent Seven show which will be in the first quarter of this year in Birmingham. We have a good letter with Hamzah. [Sheeraz] heading against Liam [Williams] and we have the Riyadh fair we are involved in, so it’s a good start to the year.
